Main Aims

Subsidiary Aims

Procedure (35-56 minutes)

Warmer/Lead-in (3-5 minutes) • To set lesson context and engage students

Show video (We are sinking). Emphasize importance of accuracy in pronouncing phonemes, and introduce the focus of the lesson: accuracy in pronouncing sounds.

Exposure (4-6 minutes) • To provide a model of the task and highlight different sounds.

Demonstrate and lead students in pronouncing individual sounds, sounds in words, and then sounds in sentences.
1. Put students in pairs.
2. Hand out the map for minimal pairs journeys.
3. Demonstrate how to use the map. (For example, designate "th" as left and "s" as right, and show how they will move through the map depending on what they hear.)
4. Read words from the list, randomly alternating between "s" and "th".
5. Elicit the final destination from each pair of students.
For alternate lists of minimal pairs, refer to these websites:
https://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/minimal-pairs.htm
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wordscape/wordlist/minimal.html
http://www.manythings.org/pp/

Have the students repeat this procedure in pairs, with one student reading a list and the other student following the map. Make sure each student has a chance to practice speaking.

Practice with Vowels (8-15 minutes) • To focus on differentiating between vowel sounds

1. Give each student a maze (or have them do this in pairs).
2. Explain that the purpose is to find a path from the entrance on the top left to the exit on the bottom right by matching vowel sounds.
3. Display the letters and IPA representations.
4. Elicit words that match the IPA symbols.
5. Demonstrate how to move through the maze (they can move to a square horizontally or vertically if the squares have matching sounds.
6. Encourage students to say the words out loud to practice.